MEXICO CITY – The murder of five people, including activist Nadia Vera and photojournalist Ruben Espinosa in July 2015 remains unpunished in a legal process full of irregularities, Mexico’s non-governmental Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center said Tuesday.

A week before the third anniversary of the multiple homicide committed on July 31, 2015 in Mexico City’s Narvarte neighborhood, the NGO highlighted the struggle of the victims’ families for justice.

The human rights organization said that the investigation “has been neglected and lacks a gender perspective” and held the Attorney General and the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City “responsible for the denial of the right to truth and justice.”

According to the NGO, the right to freedom of expression and the right of women to a life free of violence were violated during the investigation.

On July 31, 2015, Yesenia Quiroz, Virginia Martin, Olivia Negrete, Vera and Espinosa were murdered in an apartment in Narvarte.

“The investigations have criminalized the victims without clarifying the facts or punishing all those responsible,” the center said.

The Attorney General’s Office of Mexico City “continues to neglect the threats to life, security and integrity,” which Vera and Espinosa considered a risk to human rights defenders and journalists in the state of Veracruz, the NGO said.

Vera and Espinosa left Veracruz for Mexico City after facing assaults, harassment, surveillance and intimidation during the tenure of former governor Javier Duarte (2010-2016), who is now in prison for various crimes and corruption.

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